


Misstep

by wintercreek



Category: Glee
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-24
Updated: 2012-05-24
Packaged: 2017-11-05 22:29:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintercreek/pseuds/wintercreek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reaction fic for the admissions decisions revealed for Kurt, Rachel and Finn in “Goodbye.” Spoilers, natch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misstep

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to the CSI Tumblr-ers who pointed out EXACTLY what Kurt discovers in this fic! Source details in the end note.

When Kurt gets home that afternoon, he pulls the file box out of his closet and digs up his NYADA application. Maybe he's twisting the knife, maybe he's strategizing to re-apply next year. He can't really say.

It's a sad and empty little application; he shouldn't be surprised he didn't get in. Rachel's was so crowded with her extra-curriculars and accolades. Although – Kurt squints at the headings provided – now he can't figure out how she was able to fit those on to the form. His paperwork asks for performance experience, honor society memberships, institutions attended. There's no place here for him to list the national title he'd helped the Cheerios win, the diversity of interest demonstrated by his brief tenure on the football team and run for class president. How _did_ Rachel make her membership in all those clubs fall under one of the categories the application offered? Or did she ignore instructions altogether?

Kurt's already dialed Rachel before he's thought through what he's about to ask for. But he has to know. "Rachel? I need to see a copy of your NYADA application. Do you have one?"

"Of course – my dads made at least one copy for their archive, and maybe more than one. I can bring it over right now, if you want. It's never too soon to start working toward next year's—"

"Thanks," Kurt cuts her off. There's something else bothering him. He hangs up the phone, sets his diaphragm, and yells, "FINN!"

Finn thunders down the hall and into Kurt's room. "Yeah, man, where's the fire?"

Kurt sighs. "No fire. But can I see your Actors Studio application? You kept a copy, right?"

"Uh, I think Mom did. Hang on." Finn disappears, already calling for Carole.

"We are such idiots," Kurt mutters to himself, rubbing his thumb over the top of his NYADA application.

They convene in the living room fifteen minutes later, Finn holding a crumpled photocopy of his application and Rachel holding out her NYADA portfolio on its archive-quality low-acid paper. Kurt's eyes go directly to the top of the first page.

Sure enough, he's right. A look at Finn's application confirms it.

"Finn," Kurt says slowly, waiting until he has Finn's attention, "you and I are idiots."

Finn frowns at him. "What?"

"Now, Kurt, that's a little harsh, don't you think?" Rachel begins.

Kurt shakes his head. "Rachel, you applied to, and were accepted to, NYADA's undergraduate program for musical theatre performance. Undergraduate. Now look at my application and Finn's."

Rachel bends over the papers, laying them all side-by-side on the coffee table to study them. "You applied to _graduate programs._ Both of you?"

"Idiots. Morons. People who cannot read!" Kurt throws his hands in the air, picturing some confused admissions officer at NYADA trying to sync Carmen Tibideaux's no-doubt excellent report of Kurt's audition with the audacity of an 18-year-old applying directly to a graduate program. No wonder they rejected him: they must have thought he was trying to skip over four years of training. Kurt knows he's good, but he also knows he's not _that_ good.

Rachel swoons onto the couch. "Oh, Kurt, I—"

Kurt holds up a hand to stop her. "Don't, please." He can feel a hysterical giggle rising in his chest. "It's better, really. I wasn't rejected on my merits after all. If I'd done the right paperwork, who knows what they would have done? This is something I can fix. Maybe not for fall, but for next year. And I can look at other schools, too. I was online, reading college application advice, and I found out that hardly anyone applies to just one school. I don't know what Ms. Pillsbury was thinking."

"Dude, is that why Mercedes sent off so many applications? I thought she was just weirdly indecisive," Finn says, frowning.

"I'll do it better next time," Kurt vows. He can hear Finn and Rachel talking behind him, arguing about whether Finn should look at more schools, but Kurt's already focused on what comes next for him. He has to call Blaine, to get online and find the right NYADA application, to research other schools and mid-year transfer options and the possibility of getting some basic classes out of the way by enrolling at OSU-Lima in the fall. He has to move forward, and this time he won't miss a step.

**Author's Note:**

> [Screencap of Kurt's NYADA application](http://wintercreek.tumblr.com/post/13571106729/rdm-ation-fashionhasnogender-adirotynd)
> 
>  
> 
> [Wikipedia page for the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actors_Studio_Drama_School_at_Pace_University)


End file.
